Miscellaneous Musings

What better way to finally kick off the blog on my website than with some super nerdy speculation?

OK, Star Wars the Last Jedi had it’s premier screening last night. I’m sure spoilers are going to start popping up online soon, if they haven’t already. But before all of that, and before the rest of us get to see the movie in just under a week, I want to write down and share some theories about this sequel trilogy that I've had bouncing around in my head for months now. I have steadfastly avoided spoilers in the lead up to this movie, so nothing I write below *should* be a spoiler. What I’m writing here is my hypotheses based on the movies, a few of the (canonical) books, and a few choice quotes from the actors/filmmakers. It touches on Rey’s parentage and some of the events before the Force Awakens, as well as predicts a bit of what may happen in episodes VIII and IX. Though, if I’m correct, this may count as a kind of spoiler. It’s possible others have already come up with similar theories [This is the closest I’ve seen], though I haven’t come across them looking quite like this. So…reader beware I suppose. (PS, I hope to revisit this after seeing the movie, maybe I’m totally wrong!)

Alright, with all of that out of the way…here are the broad strokes: I think Rey is the daughter of Han Solo and Princess/General Leia Organa. She is the younger sister of Ben Solo [now Kylo Ren], and the niece of Luke Skywalker. Han, Leia, Ben, and everyone else believe that Rey died as a baby in some sort of tragic event or accident. This event will somehow appear to have been ten year old Ben’s fault, perhaps even related to his growing powerful abilities with the Force. While it’s most likely that no one in the family will blame Ben explicitly, this tragedy and his apparent complicity will tear the family apart. This event is what truly amps up the pull to the dark side in Ben Solo. This is also what causes Han Solo to drift away front the family and get back into racing and smuggling, because he can’t face being at home and seeing the son responsible for his baby daughter’s death. This event, and the turmoil that it causes for everyone, is why Leia sends Ben to be with Luke, in order to help him recover from it all, and to put some distance between her and him so she doesn’t have to face him either.

Han Solo’s line in the Force Awakens, "We both had to deal with it in our own way,” is often assumed to be a reference to Kylo Ren’s violent betrayal of Luke. Han follows it with the line, “I went back to the only thing I was ever good at,” and Leia replies that they both did. However, in the novel Bloodline [by Claudia Gray, which is excellent and I highly recommend it], which takes place just 6 years before the Force Awakens, Han is already off on adventures, racing ships far away from Leia (this, despite him planning to be a devoted and present father in the Aftermath novels that take place just after Return of the Jedi). While Han and Leia are still married, they rarely see each other. Ben has been with Luke for a while at this point. The family is already ostensibly broken up six years before the Force Awakens, and before Ben has become Kylo Ren. Whatever the “it” that Han was referring to seems to have happened before all of this, before Ben betrays Luke and joins the First Order. That “it,” I think, was the tragedy of the loss of their daughter seemingly due to something that Ben did or did not do. Han essentially leaving the family to get some distance from it all is no doubt the source of Kylo telling Rey that Han “disappointed” him as a father, by not being there for Ben in the wake of the family tragedy.

Whatever this tragedy was involving the daughter of Han and Leia, it will have been faked. Rey (or whatever we will find to be her birth name) will have actually been kidnapped. Her kidnappers no doubt were supposed to have actually killed her, but instead chose to keep her as their own daughter. They thus raised her from a baby to a young child, before they eventually ditched her on Jakku. I’m guessing we even meet these adoptive parents in the Last Jedi in some fashion, as a brief misdirect, as they will let Rey know that they aren’t her actual family.

Rey’s kidnappers and adoptive parents probably abandoned her on Jakku because the true mastermind of her false death and abduction was close to discovering that she had lived instead of being killed. That mastermind is Snoke. I think that Supreme Leader Snoke orchestrated the apparent death of the baby Solo daughter, specifically to look like it was Ben’s fault. This was all part of his plan to turn Ben Solo to the dark side and make Ben his apprentice.

Rian Johnson, the writer and director of the Last Jedi, once tweeted a kind of defense of the much maligned prequel trilogy. And, I think, it will explain some of the dynamics here:

Pssst. Devil's advocate: the prequels are a 7 hour long kids movie about how fear of loss turns good people into fascists. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

​
Namely, the Star Wars prequels are a fairy tale "about how fear of loss turns good people into fascists” as Johnson puts it. That’s the harrowing tale of Anakin Skywalker in the prequel trilogy, who turns to the dark side after losing his mother and fearing the loss of his beloved Padme. Seeking power over life and death was what lead him to follow Emperor Palpatine and become Darth Vader. I think Johnson’s understanding of the prequel trilogy is a bit telling then, for how the story of Ben Solo is playing out in the sequel trilogy. It’s the tragedy of losing his baby sister, and the ways that shattered his family, that leads him down the path of darkness…to make himself even stronger and more powerful, and more in control of that power. This is what leads to his seduction by Snoke, much like Anakin was seduced by Palpatine. Hence Han’s line in the Force Awakens that there was “too much Vader” in Ben. Unbeknownst to Ben, it was actually Snoke who orchestrated the death/disappearance of his sister all along.

The payoff of all of this will affect most of the major players in the remaining movies of the sequel trilogy. Kylo/Ben will discover that the sister he thought he lost—the sister he thought died possibly because of something he did—is in fact alive. Not just alive, but it is this girl Rey with whom he has already interacted several times. His whole path into darkness will suddenly be called into question for him. Moreover, at some point, he will discover that his current master Snoke was responsible for all that happened to him and his family. That knowledge will no doubt cause Kylo/Ben to turn on Snoke, leading to some sort of “redemption” (I’m guessing sacrificing himself to save the day, a la Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker).

This will also have major ramifications for Luke Skywalker. Luke seems devastated by what happened with Ben/Kylo’s betrayal of him and his new Jedi order. He no doubt sees it as a personal failing of the highest order, shattering his faith in himself, his abilities, in the Force, and in the concept of the Jedi itself (thus, “It is time for the Jedi to end”). When Luke finds out that Ben’s fall to the dark side was less his own failing or even a failing of the Jedi order, but instead the orchestration of Snoke from the very beginning...I think that will prove to be a major pivot point for him. It may be what pulls Luke out of his morass and back into a more heroic role (likely shortly before he himself dies a la Obi Wan, though I hope not). This all may well connect with the history of the Jedi that Luke has been exploring, with the ancient-appearing Snoke perhaps involved in that history in some fashion, bringing it full circle for him.

And the way this affects Rey will be rather dramatic. The family she thought she was waiting for all along will turn out to not be her family at all. She will discover herself to already be surrounded by her actual family. She witnessed Kyle Ren kill the man who was becoming a surrogate father to her, but was in fact her actual brother killing her actual father. She will confront Snoke in some fashion in the Last Jedi (and no doubt again in Episode IX)…the malevolent figure who was responsible for all that has happened to her and those she is discovering to be her family. I don’t know how she will react to all of this, honestly. I’m guessing part of the open questions left to us at the end of the Last Jedi will be related to our uncertainty to how she will respond. It’s a uniquely complicated set of emotions for her to process and act on. She will no doubt be the one to continue the Skywalker family in some fashion in the future, though with an even more complicated relationship to that family name than we've seen before.

Leia will have her own set of complicated reactions to all of this, if we get to see that play out. She still believes in the goodness within her son, much as Luke did with Vader. The discovery of Rey’s true identity will certainly bolster her hopes for Ben’s return to the light. It will be a heartbreaking relief to be reunited with her daughter, if she can be. The resolution of this relationship may be quite tragic though, depending on if the filmmakers planned to have this occur more in Episode IX. The loss of Leia, however the next film handles that, will no doubt make the dynamic with Rey and Ben/Kylo all the more messy.

I have a strong suspicion that the broad strokes I’ve laid out here are correct. I’m not sure this is how I *want* things to play out, but I think it’s something along these lines. Though, perhaps I'm wrong? How it all happens in the next two films is impossible to predict, but fun to consider. All I know is, I’m pumped to see these films, and looking forward to the surprises in store.